For your weekend consumption I present Find my Phone, a 30 minute film about a stolen phone. The filmmaker, Anthony van der Meer, rigged an Android cellphone with Cerebus, a command-and-control system for Android that can survive a memory wipe. The app allowed van der Meer to record video, take photos, and even listen in on calls – all while tracking the phone around Amsterdam. Van der Meer pieced together a life out of fragments of the thief’s life and, when he finally faced the thief, he pulled back into anonymity, letting the phone go.
Our phones are wildly personal parts of us and a movie like this one shows just how private – and dangerous – they can be. By following one cellphone thief for a few months we come to realize that with a little software and some bad intentions our cellphones can go from private property to electronic spy in a matter of seconds.